Amazon - Add Gift Card

Recently we had a a Town hall Meeting with Mukul Sachan, Co-Founder and COO of Lendingkart. I received three amazon gift cards as a token of appreciation for the engagement in a meeting. I was happy indeed.

Later, I came at home and read instructions to use it. I searched on google and found that I need to add these card balances on my Amazon Pay account. I opened amazon app and navigated to amazon pay option through hamburger menu.

I was able to see various options and found “Add Gift Card” option. I tapped on this option and started the journey to add gift cards.

Initially I typed Gift card id in text box named “Add a Gift Card” and tapped on “Add Now”. But, it did not work. I was able to see error message on top saying that “We are unable to validate the Gift card / Voucher code…” I was surprised and rechecked Gift Card ID mentioned on a physical card. But it was the same.

Then I got to see instruction mentioned below “Add Now” button. It explains that you need to enter the Gift card code, do not add Gift Card ID. I immediately scratched the Gift card code. I was happy to discover THE RIGHT CODE.

After typing the code, I tapped “Add Now” and got to see the same error again saying that “We are unable to validate the Gift card / Voucher code…” I was again surprised. If you look at the code, it’s 13 character alphanumeric code (example: SY4IXIS63G0C7F) which is difficult to read and also type. It requires immense amount of focus. I rechecked the code and tried again. But, I failed again.

I tried for six times and then I was successful. I was hunting for the right code by interchanging 1 and I and also 0 (zero) instead of O. After 6 attempts, I finally got the right one. But, honestly, I am not sure what worked at the end. After trying for few times, I was also asked to enter captcha. That was also over burden for me.

Learnings:

Wrong label can lead to wrong action. In this case, the label was “Add a card” and I entered the card id which was immediately present in a physical card. Amazon has put instructions to prevent this error. I assume that many people would be entering Card ID and thus Amazon has explicitly mentioned what you need enter.

The concept of amazon gift card is just amazing. However, if it’s difficult to use then it can hamper the user experience.

13 digit long code creates a lot of trouble. Customer has to put lot of efforts and have to focused while entering the code. Editing the code in app is also a big effort in case if user enters wrong code.

When we use alphanumeric code, there are always chances of confusion in case of some fonts. Let’s say in this case, it was difficult to understand whether it’s 0 (zero) or O and similarly for 1 and I.

What could be improvised:

if Amazon would have kept simply “Gift Card Code” instead of “Add a Gift Card” then the error rate for typing Card ID instead of Card Code can be reduced drastically. But, there might be other reasons of keeping “Add a Gift Card” from Amazon and I am not aware of that.

Perhaps, there could be other way to give this code. It can be also a simple QR code which we use for Paying though Paytm or other apps. It can also have both option add by typing number or scan a QR code.

For the error scenario, they could provide specific content in case user enters the Gift Card ID as Amazon would have these ids with them. In error message also, they could have mentioned about entering Gift Card Code instead of generic message.

There should not be a need of Captcha if a solution is better. It’s a problem of code and people does mistake due to complexity of the code.

If you find this experience worth sharing then do share with your network. I would like to hear your opinion about this experience. Feel free to write below in comment box.